Barry Bonds Cheats His Way to Baseball Immortality

Barry Bonds is the best player of his generation. It irks me to give Bonds credit, but the numbers speak volumes and baseball is if anything, based on statistics.

Two numbers alone would appear to be enough to include Bonds' name among the all-time elite - 73 and 756. Bonds already has the 73 - the single-season home run record set back in 2001 - and he is a mere 22 home runs away from 756 - the all-time home run record.

Here's hoping he never reaches that second total. I am already dreading Bonds' run at the all-time home run mark - the Holy Grail of the baseball world. I don't condone awarding a cheater.

Bonds, a seven-time MVP, may be one of the best of all-time on the baseball field, but he is also one of the biggest jerks in sports. While there is no "I" in team there is definitely a "me." Just ask Bonds, who is the epitome of a me-first guy. Through the years Bonds has denied the use of steroids even though his body has gone through changes that only the most naive fan would say is due to his workout regimen. Take a look at some old pictures of Bonds and you will be amazed.

Also, no player in history - I'm talking Ty Cobb to Babe Ruth to Willie Mays to Hank Aaron - has improved his numbers after reaching the age of 35. You can call Bonds a freak of nature. I call him a cheat and a steroid monster.

Through the first 13 years of his career, Bonds averaged between 35 to 40 home runs and a .285 a season. Over the next five years he averaged 52 home runs a year while hitting an absurd .340. You can almost pinpoint the instant he put needle to vain. It was when a pair of other steroid monsters - Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire - broke Roger Maris' single-season home run record back in 1998. Bonds' ego couldn't take being left out of the conversation. Two years later he set the new mark, a bloated 73.

Bonds has been dogged by steroid talk in recent years. The last time Bonds was hit with a steroid accusation, he put it on another teammate, Mark Sweeney. Previously he said he may have unknowingly used steroids when he applied a cream without knowing what it was. Only Bonds, and perhaps Pete Rose, would think that lie was acceptable. I guess there wasn't any teammate around to put the blame on that time.

I never thought Bonds would get this close to the home run record. A few years ago he said he would retire after hitting his 600th home run. I was hoping he would do so right there on the field. He didn't.

He also said he would retire after the 2005 season, and later he said the same after the 2006 season, yet here he is. The man won't go away.

I've always rooted against Bonds, even before he doubled in size. I never wanted him to get to a World Series ring and was elated when the Atlanta Braves knocked off the Pirates in Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS. Atlanta won the game on a play at the plate. The ball arrived a split second late. I always enjoyed the fact that it was Bonds who couldn't throw out Sid Bream, one of the slowest men in baseball. Thanks to his weak arm the Pirates missed out on reaching the World Series.

Bonds eventually did make the series in 2002. Another Game 7 and another loss for Bonds. The Angels rallied for the victory.

I'm hoping that he can taste another bitter defeat before breaking Hank Aaron's home run record. How about rounding the bases for No. 755 when his knees, after dozens of surgeries, give out, thwarting his effort to tie the record.

Aaron is man of principle who faced discrimination and death threats when he set the mark in 1974. Bonds has created his own problems.

Nevertheless, it looks like Bonds, who hit 26 home runs in limited action last year is going to be the new home run king. Just don't expect me to bow.